By Jake Donovan

Deontay Wilder will celebrate his one-year anniversary as a heavyweight titlist the best way a boxer can – in the ring.

A dance partner is still being sought for his January 16th headliner at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. That item is expected to be buttoned up in the next day or so, according to reliable sources close to the situation.

The frontrunner to land such a fight is Artur Szpilka, who became the most logical choice once Vyacheslav Glazkov was pulled from negotiations in favor of pursuing a now vacant heavyweight belt.

Wilder (35-0, 34KOs) hoped to announce the fight this past Saturday while on site at Barclays Center. However, the combination of Glazkov withdrawing when he did and Szpilka rumored to have initially priced himself out of the planned Showtime-televised headliner left the unbeaten titlist to merely hold court for a makeshift roundtable session in lieu of a kick off press conference.

Once the opponent is confirmed, the unbeaten World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight beltholder will make the third defense of his crown. The event comes exactly 52 weeks after Wilder claimed the crown in a landslide decision win over Bermane Stiverne in Las Vegas last January.

Wilder (35-0, 34KOs) was in negotiations for the bout to come versus Glazkov. That fight fell apart a week or so ago when New Jersey-based promotional outfit Main Events pulled its unbeaten heavyweight contender due to a claim of Wilder’s side – represented in such talks by promoter Lou DiBella – playing games with the specific offer for such a fight.

Glazkov has instead opted to enforce his mandatory challenger ranking for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title which was stripped from newly crowned champ Tyson Fury on Tuesday. With the vacancy came the ordered fight between Glazkov and Charles Martin, who withdrew from a scheduled December 12 showdown with fellow unbeaten heavyweight Dominic Breazeale in San Antonio.

As the weekend came and went without a confirmed opponent for Wilder, several names have since come to the surface. None were particularly desirable choices:
- Stiverne, who is currently slated to appear on the Jan. 16th undercard versus the ever-dangerous TBA;
- Amir Mansour, a hard-hitting southpaw who was forced to settle for a 10-draw versus Gerald Washington in a fight most felt he won;
- Middle-aged sideshow Shannon Briggs, a former two-time heavyweight titlist who is better known these days for his antics outside the ropes than for anything actually achieved in the ring since being manhandled for 12 rounds by Vitali Klitschko more than five years.

Of the three, Briggs was believed to bring the most notoriety (if not for all the wrong reasons) to such a fight given his Brooklyn roots and attention-seeking adventures. However, neither he nor Mansour are eligible to challenge for a WBC title, as neither are ranked among the Top 15 heavyweights.

That would have left Stiverne, who has fought just once since his lopsided loss to Wilder – struggling to a 10-round win over veteran spoiler Derric Rossy this past November in Las Vegas.

With any potential alternate providing an undesirable matchup for a heavyweight title fight, the always-entertaining Szpilka (20-1, 15KOs) came back to the forefront.

The hard-hitting Polish southpaw – who trains in Houston under the watchful eye of top cornerman Ronnie Shields – is ranked among the Top 10 by the WBC and – like Wilder – fights under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner as both are advised by Al Haymon.

Szpilka was initially due to face Mansour on December 12 in San Antonio, but the fight was pulled from the NBC telecast for undisclosed reasons. It remains to be seen what fate awaits Mansour, who as a southpaw heavyweight would make for a reasonable replacement for Martin to face Breazeale this weekend, even on such short notice.

A potential clash with Wilder will mark the first title opportunity for Szpilka, as well as making his debut both in Brooklyn and on Showtime Championship Boxing.

His lone loss came last January at Madison Square Garden Theatre, suffering a 10th round stoppage at the hands of Bryant Jennings. The matchup of unbeaten heavyweight prospects on the cusp of contention serve as the only other time Szpilka has fought in New York City

Four straight wins have followed for the 26-year old, including a 2nd round stoppage of Yasmany Consuegra this past August in Newark, New Jersey.

Wilder is coming off of an 11th round stoppage of France’s Johann Duhaupas in September. The bout marked his second straight title defense in his home state of Alabama, both of which were staged in Birmingham. The 30-year old fighting pride of Tuscaloosa, AL made his first defense three months prior, surviving an early scare to knock out Eric Molina in nine rounds.

His next fight will mark the first in New York for Wilder, whose current run is loaded with significant benchmarks. He represents the last American male boxer to have won an Olympic medal, bringing home the bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His win over Stiverne this year earned honors as the first American boxer to claim a piece of the heavyweight crown in more than seven years.

He will now represent the A-side in the first-ever heavyweight title fight at Barclays Center, which has quickly gained a reputation as a boxing hotbed since hosting its first card in Oct. ’12.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox